Matt Hasselbeck, the Seahawks' Pro Bowl quarterback, will start against the Cowboys. But as coach Mike Holmgren put it, "Seneca will play the bulk of the game."

Pay close attention, because Wallace is not the same quarterback the team drafted in the fourth round three years ago.

As a rookie, he won the No. 3 job behind Hasselbeck and since-departed Trent Dilfer, but struggled to learn the offense. In 2004, he could call plays, but not always execute them. Last summer, he put on a dazzling display in the preseason opener against the Saints -- including a 24-yard scramble for a score and a 28-yard TD pass -- and saw his first regular-season action.

Any discussion of Wallace always centered on how athletic he is, how explosive he is when breaking from the pocket. Not how he was progressing as a quarterback.

This season, Wallace is out to change that.

"That's the thing now, just trying to be poised in the pocket and make plays with my arm," he said this week during a lunch break at the team's Eastern Washington University training camp. "Everybody knows I'm capable of scrambling and making plays that way."

In the past, those often-scintillating scrambles happened too often at the first inkling of pressure, real or perceived. In the first two weeks of camp, Wallace has been moving in the pocket, but to buy time for receivers to get open -- the second and even third options, as well as his primary target.

"Seneca is determined, with the work he did in the offseason and up to this first game, to make a difference when he gets on the field," said Jim Zorn, Seahawks quarterback coach.

"He is really paying attention to detail. He's been up for every practice. The thing that can distinguish a good quarterback versus just an average guy is one that will be able to concentrate for a long period of time.

"Seneca has done a nice job of that."

Tonight provides the next logical step. The Cowboys will blitz, so Wallace will see things he hasn't been able to work on during practice. How he reacts at that moment, and what he can carry over to next week and the next game, could be bigger than any play he makes against Dallas.

"A lot of the questions will be answered for Seneca the first game," Zorn said. "So he'll be a better quarterback the second preseason game than he will be in this first game."

You can't talk about Wallace, however, without getting back to the fact he is the best athlete on the team. And how the playbook contains an entire section of ways to use him as a situational receiver, runner and even passer. And how offensive coordinator Gil Haskell, among others, is adamant that Wallace could lead the NFL in punt-return average if given the chance.

It won't happen. Not as long as Wallace remains the only option should something happen to Hasselbeck. The club has been looking to sign a veteran QB since it traded Dilfer to the Cleveland Browns last year. So far, it hasn't happened.

"I don't think about that," Wallace said. "I'm just happy to be here, be on this team and be able to be a quarterback in the National Football League."